


five times ryan came out (and one time he couldn't)

by GallifreyanFairytale



Category: High School Musical (Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Coming Out, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, heteronormativity is a wild thing, ryan is my new emotional support character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:41:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22360501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GallifreyanFairytale/pseuds/GallifreyanFairytale
Summary: Ryan didn’t try to hide his sexuality, exactly. He hadn’t explicitly come out to anyone, but most of the kids at school knew.
Relationships: Chad Danforth/Ryan Evans, Gabriella Montez/Kelsi Nielsen (one-sided), Troy Bolton/Ryan Evans (past one-sided), background Troy Bolton/Gabriella Montez
Comments: 12
Kudos: 847
Collections: oh YES





	five times ryan came out (and one time he couldn't)

**Author's Note:**

> I watched High School Musical 2 for the first time a couple days ago and since then, I've adopted Ryan Evans as my new emotional support character. So have this fic that wasn't supposed to be a 5+1 things fic but then turned into one anyways

**i.**

Ryan didn’t try to hide his sexuality, exactly. He hadn’t explicitly come out to anyone, but most of the kids at school knew. It was in the way he dressed, the way he spoke, the way he kept his eyes trained specifically on the ground when changing in and out of his PE uniform. 

Despite how obvious it was to everyone at school - teachers and students alike - Ryan was almost certain his parents were blissfully ignorant. Mostly because if Ryan’s dad knew he wasn’t straight, Ryan would likely be living in East High’s theatre storage rooms. At least until Sharpay demanded Ryan come home, because no one said no to Sharpay. Not even their father.

Ryan’s mom was another story. He had always been closer with her than anyone in his life apart from Sharpay. (And his closeness to Sharpay wasn’t always by choice. He loved Sharpay, he really did, she could just be… _a lot_.) Ryan was sure his mother would come around if he came out to her, and maybe she already knew or suspected, but there was a deep fear seated in Ryan’s stomach that if he came out to her, she would tell his father. And that was what Ryan wanted to avoid at all costs, at least until he had his college tuition paid for and maybe a nice apartment in New York City or somewhere else far away from home.

The only person who had ever outright asked him if he was gay was Sharpay, to which Ryan had responded something along the lines of, _“Are you my twin sister?”_ Sharpay scoffed, said she was just wondering and Ryan didn’t need to be so defensive because she supported him either way. Ryan had cried into her shoulder for a few minutes, then wiped his tears and the two of them proceeded to pretend it had never happened.




The first person Ryan _explicitly_ came out to was Kelsi, of all people, during rehearsals for the winter musical. Sharpay was nowhere to be found, having another meltdown about how offkey Troy was (it was one line, but it was the final straw for Sharpay), and Ryan was tired of having to calm her down, so Ms. Darbus had gone after her. Troy and Gabriella were seated in the back of the house, and Kelsi was pacing back and forth on the stage, going through her notes, so Ryan sat down at the piano.

He needed to soothe himself, so he started playing a calming tune. He couldn’t remember the name of the piece - he’d learned it in his piano lessons back in elementary school - but it was his go-to whenever he sat down to play.

Kelsi looked up when she heard the piano, and before Ryan knew it, she was on the bench next to him. She set her papers down on top of the piano. “What are you playing?”

Ryan stopped, pulling his hands away from the keys. “Just something I learned awhile ago. Sorry.” Ryan went to stand up, but Kelsi put a hand on his arm.

“No, you’re fine. You can keep playing. It’s a nice song.”

“Oh,” Ryan said, because he didn’t know what else to say. “Thanks?” He noticed Kelsi’s gaze drift back to Troy and Gabriella, and Ryan couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Something wrong?”

Kelsi’s eyes widened and her eyes snapped back to Ryan. “No!”

Well that was a lie. Ryan knew the look on Kelsi’s face.

“Crushing on Troy?” He smirked. It was something he knew all too well. Troy was the guy everyone wanted to be with, and Ryan wasn’t an exception.

“No.” Kelsi sighed, and shot another glance at the couple.

A realization dawned on Ryan.

“Gabriella?”

Kelsi stiffened, then nodded slowly. “Please don’t tell anyone,” she whispered.

“I won’t,” Ryan promised. “I’m gay too. Well, you probably guessed that, but the rumors and speculations are true. Not that I’ve actually _told_ anyone besides Sharpay. And you.”

Kelsi tilted her head. “You’ve never told anyone?”

“Nope.”

“Me neither.”

Ryan hugged Kelsi, and then Sharpay came storming back onto stage and rehearsal resumed as normal.

**iii.**

The third person Ryan came out to was Chad, if it could even be called _coming out_.

After the baseball game, Ryan had sauntered into the locker room and Chad had followed and suddenly, Ryan was being pressed up against the wall with Chad’s lips on his and Ryan had never kissed anyone back harder in his life. In the process of being slammed against the wall, Ryan’s hat had fallen off, so he reached up and knocked Chad’s hat off too before tangling his hands in Chad’s hair.

One of Chad’s hands wound its way up Ryan’s shirt and it wasn’t long before the shirt was being tugged over Ryan’s head and Ryan did the same to Chad’s shirt, and Ryan knew this wasn’t going to last past today but _God_ did it feel good right now.

**iv.**

The fourth person Ryan came out to was Gabriella, who had made a sly comment about Chad and Ryan having switched hats and shirts after the locker room incident and were now sharing a single order of fries. Gabriella, who didn’t fall for either one’s lame excuse about why.

Gabriella, who had simply raised an eyebrow after Chad left to go get a bottle of Coke and asked, “ _Chad?_ ”

Ryan shrugged sheepishly. “You can’t deny that he’s hot.”

“I have my eyes on one person only, and that person is _not_ Chad.”

“You’re missing out then.”

Gabriella laughed and sat down next to Ryan, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him into a side hug. “You’re a good person, Ryan.” Ryan didn’t know why that struck him so hard. Maybe it had to do with his dad insisting gay people couldn’t _be_ ‘good’. Or maybe Ryan was just happy to finally be making friends besides Sharpay and his mom.

“You are too, Gabriella.”

Chad sat back down on Ryan’s other side and handed him a bottle of water. “So, when are we gonna start learning this dance of yours?”

**v.**

The fifth person Ryan came out to was his mom, on the last day of summer before senior year. Ryan was moping, being overdramatic, and he knew it. Chad hadn’t talked to him since the students of East High had worked their last summer shift, and Ryan should have known that this would have happened, but he’d been blinded by another crush on a jock who couldn’t care less about him.

Sharpay scoffed at his melodramatic sigh as he opened the fridge for the fourth time that hour, looking to see if anything new had appeared in the last ten minutes. “Basketball boys aren’t worth it, Ry,” she said.

“I know for a fact Zeke is taking you to a movie tonight.”

Sharpay spun around, eyes wide. “What? How?!”

“Twin telepathy.” Ryan grabbed an apple and took a bite out of it. It tasted bitter, but he couldn’t be bothered to care. Sharpay huffed and stomped away.

It was a few minutes later when Ryan’s mom came into the kitchen and sat down next to Ryan, who was still eating his bitter apple and scowling at nothing.

“Sharpay said you were upset.”

“Sharpay said that?”

“Well, she said that she needed me to fix you so you stopped snooping through her texts for any hint of romance since you’re not getting any yourself, but that’s a rough translation of what she actually meant.”

Ryan cracked a smile at that.

“So, girl problems?”

Ryan shook his head. As scared as he was to come out to his mom, he was _not_ going to make himself out to be someone who got upset over a girl not texting him back. He couldn’t keep up a pretense like that. He set his apple down. “Boy problems.”

“Ah.” Ryan’s mom put a hand on his shoulder. “Well I know you’ll find the perfect guy someday.”

Ryan breathed out. He was going to be okay. He didn’t remember what sort of reaction he was hoping for from his mom, but this was perfect. Ryan leaned his head on his mom’s shoulder. “You really think so?”

She ran a hand through his hair. “I know so.”

**\+ i.**

Chad went to prom with Taylor, but Taylor was dancing with Gabriella because Troy was dancing with Sharpay and Zeke was dancing with Kelsi. That had to be the only reason Chad had extended his arm out towards Ryan; everyone else already had a dance partner.

Ryan accepted - how could he not? Neither one of them had spoken about the locker room incident since it had happened, but they’d formed a pretty good friendship during the school year. Or, at least Ryan _thought_ it was a good friendship. He didn’t really have many other friendships to compare it to.

Sometime during the song, Chad had closed the distance between them and their foreheads were now pressed together and Ryan really liked it, but he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Aren’t you here with Taylor?”

“Just as friends,” Chad answered. “We talked it over and decided we’re better off as friends. Besides,” Chad shot a glance over at Taylor, who was dancing with Kelsi now, “I think she’s got eyes for someone else too.”

“‘Too’?”

“As in, _also_.”

“I know what _too_ means.”

“I was a jerk for ghosting you over the summer.”

Well that was the last sentence Ryan had expected to come out of Chad’s mouth, especially at prom. While they were dancing. Wait. Ryan was dancing with Chad, _at prom_ , and Chad had just heavily implied he had feelings for someone who was definitely not Taylor.

Ryan hadn’t really finished collecting his thoughts when Chad’s lips brushed against his, much more gentle than any of their kisses in the locker room had been. One of Ryan’s hands moved up to cup Chad’s cheek and pushed his lips more firmly against the other boy’s.

When they broke apart, Ryan was breathless despite how short of a kiss it was and how slowly they were dancing.

Taylor went to Gabriella’s girl’s night prom afterparty with Kelsi and Martha and a few others, so Chad ended up at Ryan’s house. Sharpay drove, as usual, and Ryan elected to sit in the back with Chad instead of the passenger seat, which Sharpay rolled her eyes at. She stomped into the house before Ryan had even unbuckled. Chad jumped out and opened the door for Ryan, then closed it once Ryan had climbed out.

Chad held out his hand, and Ryan took it. The two walked into the house hand-in-hand, expecting everyone besides Sharpay to be asleep already, but they were greeted with the sight of Ryan’s dad as soon as the door shut behind them.

Ryan let go of Chad’s hand. “This is Chad,” he introduced. “He’s my friend. He’s staying the night.” Ryan didn’t phrase it like a request, which shocked him. Sharpay must finally be getting to his head.

“Your _friend_ ?” his dad asked, eyes going back and forth between the two boys. Ryan knew that tone, he knew that look. He knew that his father wasn’t sure he could believe Ryan, but he also knew that his father _wanted_ to believe him. Because of course neither of the Evans children could be _queer_ , how could anyone even insinuate such a thing?

“Yep,” Ryan confirmed. “We’re… bros.” He could feel Chad struggling to contain his laughter. “Anyways, we’re gonna go change and get to sleep. Goodnight.” Ryan grabbed Chad’s arm and drug him up the stairs. 

Once they were out of earshot of Ryan’s dad, Chad finally let out his laughter. “‘ _Bros’_?”

“I’m not coming out to my dad before he pays my college tuition for me.”

Chad put his hands up in defense. “Fair enough. I won’t make you come out to anyone you don’t want to. ...As long as you promise me to never call us ‘ _bros_ ’ again.”

Ryan pressed a soft kiss to Chad’s cheek. “I promise.”


End file.
